


Scare Me

by writingstylinson



Category: One Direction
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 12:16:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21179285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingstylinson/pseuds/writingstylinson
Summary: Louis is an awkward and shy college student who starts working at a local Haunted House. Harry Styles is not only the soccer star that’s working alongside him, but also his crush.





	Scare Me

**Author's Note:**

> This work in particular is dedicated to a person who’s become a very close friend of mine. She’s truly amazing and puts up with all the craziness that comes with being a writer. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.

It’s a steep incline from the dirt road up to the attraction on top of the hill. Louis hasn’t ever come near the area before given how secluded it is, but he can only assume that it’s what makes the hay rides, fried food, and haunted houses far more thrilling. He glances back towards the road to see that his ride has already taken off. 

He shakes his head, “And why do I have a feeling there’s no service out here?”

When Louis finally reaches the top of the hill he’s faced with a fence of rope that appears to circle around the premises. He ducks under the fraying rope and starts towards the only proper building. The double doors that lead inside appear to be rusting from the hinges and there's a cracked window on the third story. Louis certainly isn't getting any warm and fuzzy feelings. Hell, the only thing missing is a clap of thunder followed by lightning. 

Louis knows that he’s supposed to work as an actor for the haunted house attraction, but it’s not exactly the kind of job he had in mind when he started university . When his drama professor had everyone compete with improv for a prize, a part-time job scaring teenagers wasn’t exactly something he had in mind. He might have hoped for a miniature trophy or maybe a pass on the next pop quiz, but beggars can’t be choosers. 

The door rasps as it pushes open to reveal a busty woman with graying roots, “Oh! Hi dear, can I help you with something?” 

“Er,” Louis starts and shifts from one foot to the other, “Mr. Clarke should’ve contacted you. I’m Louis... Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson. He said that I’d be helping out with the haunted house.” 

She smacks herself in the forehead, “Of course! Come on in, the other actors are inside.” The woman then steps out of the way so Louis can step inside. “I’m just going to go grab Mr. Brown and then we’ll get started.” 

Louis nods and makes his way over to the group of people that are already lost in their own discussions. There doesn't seem to be anyone from his classes but he can't say for sure. The dying chandelier dangling over his head doesn't contribute a lot of light to the row of windows, and his surroundings are either covered in dust or seconds away from collapsing to the hardwood floors. Overall it's just dark. He reckons it's that fact that makes the building a perfect choice for hosting a haunted house tour. 

Before he can move to a spot that's a safe distance from the crowd, the woman is walking back in with her heels echoing against the peeling wallpaper.

She claps her hands together, "Hello everyone! I'm Ms. Davis and this is my partner Mr. Brown, and we have been running Haunted Horrors for five years now." Ms. Davis smiles and waits for everyone to stop clapping. "This year we have expanded from one theme to two. The first one is our Sinister Asylum, which we've been doing every year since we started. And now we have added Twisted Tales. Think of any fairytale you loved as a kid and make it dark. For example, Cinderella went to the ball to kill Prince Charming or maybe Jiminy Cricket talks Pinocchio into doing all of the wrong things. Twisted and dark and sinister."

"Which means that all of you will be split into two groups: Sinister Asylum and Twisted Tales," Mr. Brown says.

Ms. Davis looks down at the clipboard and starts to read off the names of people that will be doing the Sinister Asylum. From what Louis is hearing, they've practically split everyone into groups based off of their last names. Everyone with a last name that starts from A to L is whisked off to stand by Mr. Brown. 

“Now the rest of you will be with me in the Twisted Tales, but I’m going to read off the names to make sure everyone is accounted for,” Ms. Davis says and then starts to read off a few names, "Olivia Martin, Amelia Miller, Liam Payne-" 

Louis knits his eyebrows together and whispers to himself, "Liam?" The same Liam that plays for his uni’s football team? The same person that's best friends with- 

"-Harry Styles," 

No. No, no, no. Louis starts to shake his head as he rubs his hands over his jaw. No. How could he have missed those two? Is it really that dark? There's no way that Liam and Harry are actually here to work. There's no way that they're here at all. Why? God, why? Harry Styles is literally the one person that Louis has been hopelessly pining over for two years now. It's ridiculous at this point and he knows it. He goes to every football match and stares at the back of his head in English class the entire time. It's silly. He knows it is. Now, he's going to be forced to be near the guy and actually work alongside him. 

He can feel his throat closing up at the thought of it. 

Louis takes a shaky breath and urges his feet to move over to the Twisted Tales group. No one is really paying him much attention which is somewhat comforting, but he swears his heart is about to beat right out of his chest. 

"Hey, Louis right?" Liam says with a warm smile, “I think I’ve seen you around campus.” 

No. Please, no. Louis squeezes his eyes shut and jerks his head in a nod. 

"Haunted Houses freak you out?" 

"Something like that," he squeaks out and clutches the strap of his messenger bag. 

A large hand comes down to pat Louis' back before draping itself across his shoulders, "I think you signed up for the wrong job then, huh?" 

Louis tries to steady his breathing, despite knowing very well who the deep drawl of a voice belongs to. The striker for his university  football  team, that everybody has heart eyes for, is actually touching him right now. He fidgets his weight from one foot to the other then back again, fighting the urge to bite his nails. Biting your nails isn't attractive. "I uh, I won this job?" he eventually squeaks out. 

"Won it?" Harry and Liam parrot. 

"In class, my um drama class. My professor said the person who did the best improv would uh, would get a prize. This is supposed to be my prize." Louis hooks his finger into the collar of his shirt and tugs on it. "I'm not really sure what he was thinking." 

Harry bends forward and slaps his knee as he honks out a laugh. 

He will never forget that he just made Harry Styles laugh. And not in a bad way. 

+ + +

Louis adjusts the leather that ties his boots all the way up to his knees and then rolls his ankles to get a feel for the tight fit. When he had been assigned the twisted role of Peter Pan, he wasn’t entirely sure what his part entailed. Now, he looks like the character out of the series Once Upon a Time. He’s even got a silver dagger tucked into his belt that’s meant to scare the people he chases after. Apparently he’s supposed to be a version of Peter Pan where he kidnaps children to be his Lost Boys and kills the ones that get too old. 

On the other hand, Louis’ luck landed him with Harry Styles as the role of Captain Hook. From his lean and tall stance to his curly hair that fell an inch or two past his shoulders, Ms. Davis had deemed him the perfect match. Louis had managed to catch a glimpse of him earlier. Harry’s costume resonates more with the original movie as he’s got on a long red coat and a hook in place of his left hand. The only real difference is maybe the black pirate hat and overall more mature look. 

It was last Friday, the week after everyone had been assigned their positions, that they all rehearsed their parts for the better part of an hour. Today is the first day that anyone has gotten to see their costumes. With only two stylists, it’s taken a while for everyone to get dressed up and ready to rehearse for one more evening. Then the place will actually be opened up to the public. 

Louis watches as the stylist pulls away, makeup brush in hand, then grips his chin and turns his head from side to side to examine her work. “You’re all set,” she smiles before disposing her makeup brush into a cup of water. He takes that as his cue to shoo. It’s when he stands up from the black stool that he manages to catch a glimpse of himself. There are a few droplets of fake blood that drip from the corner of his mouth and overall his face seems paler. 

“Thank you,” he squeaks out and leaves the secluded room. 

The walk from the dressing room to the second floor isn’t much of a walk with only a flight of stairs between them. Louis lets his hand slide over the wooden railing and then winces, “Fuck.” He pulls his hand away and glares down to spot a splinter that’s plunged its way into his ring finger. That fucking hurt. 

“Such a filthy word from a pretty mouth,” a deep voice remarks. Three steps towards Louis brings Harry out of the darkened area that starts the Twisted Tales tour. He’s got his lips twitched upwards into a smirk and his dimples are prominent. 

Louis tries to steady his breathing and he can already feel the blood pool into his cheeks, “I- I got a splinter.” He holds his finger up to show him, as if he’s afraid Harry will think he’s lying. 

“I can help with that,” Harry is already pulling Louis’ finger into his mouth and starts to suck. He looks up to meet Louis’ shocked gaze, and Louis can do nothing but stare back into the sliver of deep green that circles around his blown pupils. Then he pulls off with a  _ pop _ , and plucks the small piece of wood from his teeth before placing it in the palm of Louis’ hand, “there you go.” 

What. The. Fuck. What the actual fuck? 

“Uh,” he stutters out, “thank you.” 

Harry smiles back at him, completely unfazed, and shrugs his shoulders. “It was really no problem. I guess my bedroom activities are actually good for other things as well.” 

What on earth does he fucking say to that? 

Louis scratches at the back of his neck, “Er... I guess.” He looks around for anything that can take his mind off of the beautiful man in front of him and his thickening cock between his legs. Now is not the time to imagine Harry down on his knees in front of him, or the fact that Harry’s dimples show when he’s sucking on something. Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it. Stop  _ thinking _ about it.

“Haz, have you seen my hat anywhere? I completely forgot where I left it,” Liam says as he walks over. 

“No,” Harry sighs out with a roll of his eyes, “I have not seen your hat. Maybe you left it by those tombstones when you were trying to get into Sophia’s pants.” 

An obvious blush settles over Liam’s entire face and he coughs into his fist. “I wasn’t trying to do anything! We were just talking... I needed to know if she had the notes for Mrs. Richard’s class.” 

Harry leans over and whispers into Louis’ ear, “He was trying to get into her pants.” 

Liam let’s out a frustrated groan, “Harry! I was not- don’t listen to him, please.” He rubs a hand over his face. “Why am I friends with you?” 

“Because I’m funny, attractive, damn good at footy , and I’m on the dean’s list.” 

“Do you hear this guy?” Liam directs his question at Louis and jerks his thumb in Harry’s direction, “ Talk about conceited.” 

Harry hooks his arm around Liam’s neck and uses his free hand to ruff up his hair, “Conceited? You wanna go, man?” There’s a struggle for power between the two of them before they finally fall over onto the floor. They roll around a couple of times before Harry’s got Liam pinned on his back and then he winks over at Louis. 

Then Liam manages to flip them over and hold Harry’s arms behind his back before whispering something into his ear. They both stop their roughhousing and get back to their feet. “I’m going to head back over to my post,” Liam says and pats Harry on the shoulder before walking away. 

Louis’ eyebrows pinch together. How did this situation manage to get more confusing? Why is this even happening in the first place? Up until three weeks ago, Harry has never spoken a single word to him. Liam had asked him for a pencil once their freshman year, but that’s about it. So why are these two people suddenly so interested in his existence? He’s been nothing but a face in the background all of this time. There’s no way that this job is the sole reason for interacting with him more than the bare minimum. 

“Lou?” Harry asks and waves his hand in front of his face, “Louis? Are you in there?” 

He jerks himself out of his thoughts, “Yeah- yeah. I’m sorry…” 

“Okay good,” Harry grins. Then he rests his palm on top of the railing and looks down at Louis with a glint in his eyes, “‘Cause I wanted to ask you something.” He reaches up and tucks a strand of Louis’ hair behind his ear, “Would you maybe want to go out to dinner sometime? You and me?” 

Louis stares at him for a minute. No. No… there’s no way that  _ the _ Harry Styles just asked him out on a date. Is he dreaming? Did his splinter infect him and start taking over his brain? He runs his fingers through his hair then tugs at the ends of it. This isn’t happening. What’s the catch? Louis looks around his surroundings and then peers over the railing to see if anyone is watching. Certainly this is a joke. There’s no way it can’t be. 

“I- I,” Louis squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head, “I’m not an idiot.” 

Then he pushes past Harry. 

+ + +

“No!” Louis calls out as he clutches his side, keeping the sword tucked into his armpit. “I need more Lost Boys!” 

Once the group of children and adults round the corner, Louis sighs in relief. Haunted Horrors only had their big kickoff around four this afternoon and the place has been nothing short of packed. Despite being open for a few hours, he’s only gotten to act out his scene now since the tours weren’t scheduled to open until dusk. He knows that his jitters will fade away after another run through or two. 

Louis brushes off his pants and then grabs his dagger off of the floor before sliding it back into his belt. He looks up at the sound of footsteps and offers a slight smile at Harry’s return from leading the children away to safety. “Here,” Louis murmurs and hands him back his much larger sword. 

“Thanks,” Harry gives a twirl of the sword before going back to his post. 

For some reason, Harry hasn’t been quite as talkative or affectionate towards Louis and he’s not exactly sure why. He knows that he rejected Harry when asked out to dinner, but it was obviously a prank set up by Liam so why does it affect Harry so much? It was a joke on Louis being a shy and awkward nerd. He said no because he’s not an idiot. So why can’t they move on?

Louis walks over to the start of his scene and watches as a girl named Millie starts to lead the next group over to him. From how tall the people are, he guesses that they’re either older teenagers or young adults. He doesn’t recognize any faces, though it’s too dark to really know for sure if he’d recognize anyone anyways, and lets out a snicker loud enough to draw their attention. 

“Holy shit!” a man at the front screams and flinches out of arm's reach. 

“You must be the Lost Boys I let slip through my fingers! I’ll be damned if I let you go free a second time!” Louis pulls out his dagger and bares his teeth, fake blood dripping from them and down his chin. 

One of the two girls shrieks and ends up bumping into one of the other people in her group, “Greg! Run!” 

“He can’t touch you, it’s just pretend-” 

Louis rushes into their space and hisses, making sure to be close enough to make them uncomfortable. 

“Quick, come with me!” Harry shouts and pulls out his sword, “I’ll hold him off!” 

“Well if it isn’t Captain Hook,” Louis taunts and twirls his dagger around his finger, “Here for a rematch?” He then holds his dagger upright before lunging forward at the man, their weapons clanking together as they hold one another off. 

Harry pushes the dagger away before turning to the group, “Quick!” 

“No! They’re mine!” Louis screams and swings at Harry, clank, then he’s kicked backwards and falls to the floor. A long sword is then slid right into his armpit and he lets out a bloodcurdling wail as everyone scurries off towards safety. 

Louis rolls over onto his stomach before he pushes himself up to his feet, “ _ Phew _ .” The kick doesn’t hurt at all as it’s merely a push to help direct his fall onto the hardwood. He had been offered a disguised mattress, oddly enough, but he refused. It’s not like he’s leaping off of a building or anything. 

“Peter?” a voice slurs, startling Louis and causing him to drop the prop of a weapon, “have you always had such a fat arse on you? I feel like I would’ve remembered if you did.” 

“Uh,” Louis chuckles and backs away from the man as he starts to approach. This isn't happening. The man is clearly drunk if the slurring and smell reeking off of him is anything to go by. He motions towards the direction that Harry left with the group, “They uh, they went that way.”

The man looks over at the archway that leads to the next scene of Pinnochio killing Geppetto. Then he looks back over at Louis. “Eh, they won’t care what we do,” he says and backs Louis into a dark corner, “I’ll be really quick.” 

“N- No,” Louis pushes at the taller man’s chest and turns his head away from the attempted kiss. 

“Louis?” a familiar voice calls out, followed by footsteps, “Lou? Where are you?” 

The man clamps a hand over Louis’ mouth and starts to rut against him, a soft grunt coming from the back of his throat. Louis can feel the obvious boner in the man’s pants. It’s taking everything in him not to start crying or gagging, squeezing his eyes shut at the sudden dizziness. 

“Lou- hey, what the fuck?” Harry yanks the man backwards by the collar of his shirt and looks over at Louis, “Did he hurt you?” 

All he can do is muffle out a sob and slide down to the floor, hiding his face into his hands. 

“Millie, get security!” Harry calls out before slamming the man up against the wall. “Fucking touch him, I dare you. Coppers are gonna come in here and drag your arse to the nearest cell where you fucking belong.” 

Harry takes a step back and lets a pair of police officers grab hold of the man. 

“We’re going to need you and the other man to come with us so we can take statements.” 

Louis gives a shaky nod and rubs at the tears that have managed to slide onto his cheeks. This is something that’s never happened before. He had been groped once back in sixth form but then the person was gone. Louis glances up to see Harry crouching in front of him with a sympathetic look. “I’m- I’m okay.” 

“You’re not, and I don’t expect you to be,” Harry shakes his head and then scoops Louis up into his arms, “I’ve got you. I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you again, Lou.” He presses a kiss to his hair. “I should’ve been watching out for you and I’m sorry for that.” 

Louis shakes his head and rubs at his eyes, “It’s not your job to look after me. I’m an adult.” Then he curls up and hides his face into Harry’s chest. “I never thought I would ever end up in a situation like that… we’re in public. There’s so many people around. How… how does someone do that? I never…” He huffs out a breath. “I’m a nobody. No one notices me. I should’ve been safe…” 

Harry cards his fingers through Louis’ hair and shushes him, “You’re okay, Lou. I’ve got you now and we’re going to go talk to the police, okay? They’ll have you checked out and that creepy fuck will be locked up in a jail cell. Then I’ll take you home and we can just curl up with a movie or something, anything to take your mind off of it. You need it.” 

“You don’t have to pretend you like me just because you stopped him,” Louis sniffles out, “I’ll give my statement and go back to working.” He looks up to see Harry’s eyebrows furrowed. 

“Wait,” Harry pauses and shakes his head, “you’re joking right?” 

It’s Louis’ turn to be confused, “What?” 

“One, you’re not going back to work tonight. You just went through a traumatizing experience- you were assaulted and you want to go back to work? You’re insane-” 

Louis flinches and adverts his eyes. 

Harry takes a deep breath and apologizes, “I’m sorry… I just don’t understand how you can say you’re fine after something like that. I’m fucking shaking and he wasn’t even trying to go after me.” Louis tries to peer up at Harry when he feels a mop of curls against his head. “How did you even get the idea that I don’t like you? I literally asked you out on a date like a week ago.” 

“But that was a prank,” Louis mumbles. 

“Prank?” Harry pulls back to look down at him, “you think I asked you out as a prank? What- are we in middle school or something? I’d never do that to someone.” 

Louis picks at his fingernails and shrugs his shoulders, “I just thought… Liam had whispered something to you before leaving and then you randomly asked me out. I- I figured it was a joke or something because I have a crush on you.” 

“You-” Harry’s lips are parted as he stares down at him for a moment, “I thought you said no because I’m not like a theater guy or something.” He shakes his head. “We’re going to give our statement, go to your place to watch a movie, and then I’m taking you out on a date once Halloween is over with.” A second passes and then Harry looks down at him again, “Is that okay?” 

Louis can’t help the giggle that escapes, “Yes, that’s okay.” 

Harry hoists Louis up to adjust his hold on the smaller man, and then carries him out through the exit. 

**Author's Note:**

> I’m using my phone to post this before midnight, but I’ll add all the tags and such when I have time. I’m so sorry!


End file.
